Limelight

by Boy Villasanta Chinoy artist Rebecca Chuaunsu and versatile thespian Ronnie Lazaro won Best Actress and Best Actor, respectively, at thd recently concluded 2024 Sinag Maynila Film Festival held at the Metropolitan Theater in Manila Sunday night. Chuaunsu bagged the prize for her role as the demented Chinese woman whose memory is restored with the aid of her locket necklace …

In her debut at the Venice International Film Festival-one of the oldest and most prestigious events, in Italy-Filipino actress Janine Gutierrez was ecstatic of her appearance in the 81st edition of the Venizia. Janine’s starring movie role in “Phantosmia,” a masterpiece of internationally renowned Lav Diaz, was shown in the non-competition section of the festival. According to Hazel Orencio, one …

World acclaimed director Brillante Ma. Mendoza’s “Bansa (Motherland)” will premiere at the 2024 Busan International Film Festival in Busan, South Korea. “Bansa (Motherland),” which is about the bloody and fierce encounter of the Special Action Force (SAF) against the rebels and stars Rocco Nacino and Mon Confiado, among others, is a sequel to Brillante’s “Moro” which streamed in Netflix. The …

Meeting again recently my colleagues from ABS-CBN was a blast. It all started when I called up Myrna Castro-de la Torre, a fellow University of Santo Tomas (UST) Faculty of Arts and Letters (Artlets) alumni who graduated with a degree in Journalism in 1974 while I majored and finished Literature in 1975. Myrna began her media work with hard news …

Even if producer-actress Rebecca Chuaunsu says that “Her Locket” is a simple, low-budgetted film, it shows otherwise. The production value, especially the art direction of Jag Concepcion, is an expensive array of authentic materials from an old house as most of the setting to its sets of “muebles” to the costumes befitting an era like the ‘70s to the colored …

“Bagay sila (They’re matched),” observers say.  They are referring to Kathryn Bernardo and Alden Richards.  Interestingly, ever since Kathryn and Alden were teamed up in the monster hit “Hello, Love, Goodbye,” a mega production of Star Cinema in 2019, their tandem was well-sought after.  “Hello, Love, Goodbye” has been one of the two (the other one being “Rewind,” a co-venture …

Ber months are here.  What a way to sing them.  Each Filipino music artist, in any medium, finds a way to interpret a song or a musical piece that expresses a special occasion or a celebration, any day, any single moment of the season.  It is fulfilling for every musician to give meaning, color, movement, shape, rhythm etc. to a …

After the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on all fronts of global fabric including the economy of arts and culture, the Sinag Maynila Film Festival is back.  One of the films selected and lined up for the fest organized by Solar Entertainment and internationally renowned filmmaker Brillante Ma. Mendoza is “Her Locket,” a tale of a Chinese woman who …

Press freedom must be alive in every hearts of the Filipinos especially among mass media practitioners.  This was the gist of the speech of actor Yul Servo, also known as John Narvin Nieto, Vice’Mayor of the City of Manila at the celebration of the 174th birth anniversary of Filipino freedom fighter Marcelo H. del Pilar held at the corner of …

As soon as Sparkle artist Sandro Niño revealed to his dad what GMA Network independent talents Jojo Nones and Richard Cruz did to him, the former child wonder of the 70s went to town to declare war against the two Kapuso contractors. “Sinimulan n’yo, tatapusin ko (You started it, I’ll finish it),” exclaimed Niño. Indeed, a fatherly love. Nones and …